The present invention concerns the field of construction, in particular of office premises or any professional premises, and wall systems or the like for such offices or professional premises.
Such premises are at present usually equipped with walls of the so-called xe2x80x9cdrywallxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cindustrialisedxe2x80x9d type. There are two major types of wall in this category: on the one hand, non-demountable walls which are generally made of plaster and which must be demolished to alter the layout of the premises; on the other hand, demountable or removable walls. Removability is the preferred way of altering the layout of premises, a removable wall being re-usable as such without any cutting, drilling or other adaption operation.
This latter type of wall system includes xe2x80x9cframework and claddingxe2x80x9d systems: the panels are attached by various fasteners to either side of a framework generally made up of studs and crossbeams.
The panels can of course be made of metal (steel, stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), wood, plasterboard, glazing of any kind, etc.
Walls with a framework are very important in the field of removable walls because they are widely adaptable to suit all architectural forms and all kinds of technical constraints and regulations.
In traditional framework type removable wall systems the panels are fixed to the framework by means of screws, staples, angle blocks, clips, possibly elastic clips, etc.
It follows that a large number of components are required for assembly, making it expensive and labour-intensive and leading to risk of mistakes, noise and even unreliable fixings.
The aims of the present invention are to remedy the drawbacks of the systems referred to hereinabove and to propose a removable wall system that is economic to manufacture, simple to install and demount and comprises a small number of components.
The removable wall system in accordance with the invention is of the type comprising at least one panel and at least one panel fixing stud, the stud being a hollow section with a rectangular cross section provided with two pairs of symmetrical ribs disposed at the extremities of the longer sides and extending parallel to the shorter sides, panel fixing means being formed integrally with the section, characterised in that at least one hook is formed in a longer side, the hook being set back relative to the ribs.
This set-back position reduces the risk of injuring installation operatives, damaging the hooks during handling connected with installing the wall and damaging other objects that may be in contact with the studs.
In one embodiment of the invention, the hook is formed in the metal plate of the longer side.
The hook is advantageously formed by cutting-stamping.
In one embodiment of the invention, the hook projects from the longer side.
The panel can therefore be fixed directly to the stud.
In one embodiment of the invention, the longer side of the stud is parallel to the outside surface of the panel. At least one insulating member can be disposed in contact with the shorter side of the stud. This insulation or fire-break member can be supported by an inside face of the panel. The panel can have an end portion forming a lip parallel to the longer side and cooperating with the fixing means.
The invention also consists in a removable wall system of the type comprising at least one panel and at least one panel fixing stud, the stud being a hollow section with a rectangular cross section, characterised in that the stud has two symmetrical ribs each at one extremity of a longer side and extending parallel to a shorter side, panel fixing means being formed integrally with the section, at least one hook being formed in a longer side and the hook being set back relative to the adjacent rib. A stud of the above kind is similar to a half-stud of the type described above.
In one embodiment of the invention, the stud has a final side parallel to the shorter side and partly closed by two rims, each originating from one extremity of a longer side.
The invention provides a wall whose panels are fixed directly to the studs with guaranteed mechanical strength, in particular fire resistance, and can be demounted easily and without risk of damaging them.
The invention dispenses with all intermediate parts for attaching the panel between the stud and the panel. This reduces the number of parts that have to be assembled with reduces the cost of manufacture and makes installation very fast, cheap and quiet. Demounting and re-installing a wall of the above kind are easy and are not subject to any limitations. The disposition of the hooks, projecting relative to the longer sides but set back relative to the ribs, prevents the fixing hooks projecting relative to the periphery of the cross section of the stud, which is safer for the operatives and greatly facilitates storing and stacking the studs in any environment.
By punching-stamping the necessary hooks into the studs, the invention alleviates the drawbacks referred to above by adequately integrating the system for fixing the panels into the studs during their manufacture.
The tubular H-shaped profile of the stud is designed for great dimensional stability, both statically and dynamically during construction. It also prevents the fixing hooks protruding relative to the bare profile, greatly facilitating handling and storage and making them very safe for operatives.
The system also incorporates all the usual fixing facilities without additional works or adaptation.